In case you haven't heard, American Wayne Odesnik was caught in possession of HGH while trying to enter Australia. He pled guilty and will likely be banned from the ATP tour. Interestingly, he had just hired the recently retired Guillermo Canas as his coach. Willy isn't a stranger to doping inquiries.
A-Rod ain't havin' it:
Q. Sorry to be a rally killer, but I wanted to hear your comments and thoughts on Wayne Odesnik.
ANDY RODDICK: If he pled guilty, which it looks like he did, there's nothing worse than that. I'm normally the one to give people the benefit of the doubt.
If that's the case, what we read today, that's just plain cheating and they should throw him out of tennis. There's just no room for it. I don't I was shocked. I was surprised. You know, we don't need stories like that. You know, I know that's the minority. If that's the case, I have zero sympathy.
Q. Your feelings are just as strong even though it was a possession and not a positive test?ANDY RODDICK: If you have a possession, you know you're not supposed to have it. You're not supposed to be anywhere near it. You're not supposed to know about it. You're not supposed to smuggle it into a country. If you have I mean, if you caught your sons or daughters and they possessed some type of drug, they're guilty of probably using, as well, correct? You know, I don't see the difference. If you have it and it's not enough to you either have it to sell it or you have it to take it. So either way, it's not the play. It's no good.
Q. How well did you know him?ANDY RODDICK: I know Wayne a little bit. I mean, I wouldn't say we're friends. He used to train in Austin sometimes. You know, I don't think we ever really did much together. But it's just normally when this has happened in tennis it's been someone that is like I don't really know at all. To have it be one of our guys and for us to lose a guy in the top 100, it makes me a little angry, you know. I don't you know, I don't want that stigma attached to our country and to our players, so it really pisses me off.
Q. That's the thing, the average person sees this in the paper tomorrow and they think...
ANDY RODDICK: That's what makes me angry. We have the most in your articles that you will write, I hope that they're at least researched to the point where we have the most stringent drug testing policies in sports. We're up there with the Olympics. We can't take Sudafed because something will come up. We have to be accountable for where we are I have to send in my forms next week to tell people where I'm gonna be for the next month every single day. If my wife and I want to drive for a day trip somewhere, I have to call in and say, We're going here, here, and here and provide an address. So I hope with the articles that they will at least acknowledge that. The ATP and the powers that be in tennis have done every single thing possible, you know, with the exception of assigning a person to follow each person around 24 hours a day and sleep with the person, to mitigate these problems, you know.
Q. So you do not think there is a problem in the sport?
ANDY RODDICK: I don't see how there can be. I mean, unless everybody's packing vials of stuff in their bags and smuggling it into countries, which I don't God, I have a hard time believing that, you know. You know, I think HGH is the one in every sport where I hope they come up with a test and I hope they start just slamming guys. I hope when they do come up with a test for it they don't tell anybody and they just implement it and start picking people off.
Q. There actually is a test, Andy, but it's not used in tennis.ANDY RODDICK: Well, the sooner the better. I think they should use it everywhere. You know, I just hope that I wouldn't be surprised if there is a test out there that we're gonna be the first to come fly with it. I hope we do. I hope this will move it. There's no room for it. We don't need it. We don't need that stigma. I take a lot of pride in what we have to do on a daily basis and how responsible we have to be for, one lack of a better word for one jackass to ruin it for the rest of us.
I'm glad someone came out and said it. It would have been a worse mark on the sport if players tried to justify what happened.
